Birthday by Lolabeegood E-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com Distribution: Archive freely with my name attached. Rating: G Categories: S, R Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance. Spoilers: Up to and including IWTB, but this takes place before it. Summary: A day in the life of Fox Mulder while living in long-term isolation. Author's Notes: Just a little something that has been working itself out in my head and I thought I'd write it out. Honourable mention goes to William & Sonoma, Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker. I do not own the characters. I do not make any money from this. Enjoy! ************************************* He used his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he stirred the batter. The oven had been pre-heating for almost 40 minutes now and the kitchen was hotter than hell. Why you had to turn the oven on so far in advance beat the crap out of him. He mixed until the carrots were nicely blended and then decided enough was enough. It was finally a cake. The first year, they had only been in this house for a few weeks before her birthday. He was busy unpacking boxes and she was at work 16 hours a day and the day got away from them both. He had honestly forgotten it was her birthday until about 5pm when he hung a calendar on the fridge and noted the date. He called her at work and asked her, very embarrassingly, if she could pick up a cake for herself on the way home. She was too tired to stop at the grocery store and that night they both settled for a bran muffin with a taper candle shoved into the top of it. The second year he had asked her, several weeks prior, to pick up a Betty Crocker mix, candles, and a tin of icing. He had followed the directions precisely, but they had wound up with a cake that had whole patches of flour in it and mushy sections that Scully attributed to unblended egg. They ate around the questionable parts and he compensated for his baking disaster with a hearty rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. She laughed at him. The third year he used her computer to order a cake online. It was unfortunately delivered on a day of heavy snow, which permeated the packaging that was supposed to be water-tight. The icing slid off most of the cake and his version of homemade icing, used to patch the bare spots on the cake, ended up hardening into a meringue-like substance. The cake was okay, although a little soggy, and they ended up throwing most of it out. He would never trust on-line cakes again. This year, things were going to be different. He was making Scully a carrot cake with real cream cheese icing. She loved carrot cake and, he was determined to break his horrible pattern of shitty birthday cakes. He had sourced several recipes online and decided on a Williams & Sonoma Classic Carrot Cake recipe in the end. He knew his would never look as good as the picture, but he was determined to make it look the best it could. He placed the two pans in the oven and, with a sigh of relief and a quiet prayer, shut the oven door. He set the timer for 40 minutes and walked out of the sweltering kitchen. He couldn't get over the amount of work making a cake took. His arm was killing him from all the mixing and his shirt was covered in flour and egg. He shrugged off the flour-encrusted garment and walked upstairs to jump in the shower. Emerging 20 minutes later he felt cooler and less eggy. He took some time to make their bed and pick his dirty clothes up off the floor and send them into the hamper. Donning fresh clothes he padded sock-footed to the spare bedroom. Once inside, he pulled a chair over to the closet and reached for an item at the back of the top shelf. It was small and hard to find as he couldn't see all the way to the back. He had ordered it just after Christmas on-line and it had arrived two weeks ago. He held the small box in his hand and put the chair back under the desk. Walking downstairs he noted that the cake smelled wonderful in the oven. He wanted to go and peek at it but was scared it may be one of those cakes that falls with noise or a change in air pressure and he didn't want to do anything to ruin his creation. He glanced to the timer and noted he still had 8 more minutes until the cake was done. In the living room he sat heavily on the sofa and placed the small box on the table before him. He questioned for a moment, if the gift was too hokey. He wondered if he had acted in haste. He questioned whether now was the time to give this to her. As he sat and starred at the box the oven beeped. He rose from his spot and walked swiftly to the oven, somehow thinking the cake would suddenly burn if he didn't pull it from the oven immediately. He removed the pans and gingerly stuck a toothpick into the centre of each. It came out clean and he couldn't help but smile. He again set the timer for 15 minutes and left the cakes to cool. He was just starting to realize how time consuming baking was. He walked past the sofa and into his office to take a quick look at an old article. Fifteen minutes later he popped the cakes out of their pans in one piece and let them cool some more on the racks. Martha had been right about properly greasing your pans; it did make for easy removal. He spent the remainder of the afternoon reading in his office while the cakes cooled on their racks. Later, he managed to assemble the double layer cake and make one kick ass cream cheese icing. He had trouble getting the icing to lay smooth but figured Scully would be so impressed that he made everything himself that a little messy icing wouldn't faze her. When she walked in the door at 7pm that night he had totally forgotten about the box on the coffee table. He was outside bringing in some firewood when he walked into the living room and saw her. "Happy Birthday" he says as he smiles at her. "Mulder, you wished me a happy birthday this morning," she smiles back. "Yeah, but I was barely conscious," he says as he places wood in the bucket. "I guess 5 am is a little early," she laughs. "You guess?" he asks as he places a soft kiss on her lips. "So is this my present?" she asks as she fingers a small box in her hand. He looks at the box and his eyes grow wide. He still hadn't decided to give it to her and he had completely forgotten about it on the table. He was still questioning whether she would be okay with the gift. "Mulder?" she asks again. "It's...part of your present." He answers her. "There are multiple parts?" she asks with a smile on her face. "I am a man of many talents," he says gesturing to the dining room table, on which sat a carrot layer cake. "Mulder!" she says astounded "did you...did you make it?" "I did" he smiles as he puts his hands in his pockets. She walks toward the table and admires it close up. Taking her finger she swipes a small bit of icing and places the finger in her mouth. "Mulder, this is cream cheese icing," she says wide eyed as she licks her lips. "It's a carrot cake," he says as he walks up next to her. She turns and kisses him passionately. He tastes the cream cheese icing on her tongue as it roams his mouth. She is obviously quite pleased with the cake. "You made me a cake," she smiles conspiratorially as they part lips. "That I did," he whispers back as he looks into her dancing eyes. "Mulder, how did you..." "The fine people at Williams & Sonoma" he says as he pulls her back towards him. "And...some advice from Martha Stewart." "Martha Stewart?" she asks as she grins. "She recommended really greasing the pans on her website under baking tips." "You did all this for my birthday?" she asks teary-eyed "Well, the last few have not been..." "They've all been great because I've been with you," she smiles up at him. "Open your present," he says, deciding it was the right time for this gift. "And you got me a..." she stops as she looks down at the gift. "It can mean whatever you want Scully," he says as he looks down at her wide eyes. "The heart represents love, the hands friendship, and the..." "Crown represents loyalty" she finishes for him. "Yeah," he says softly. "It seemed like the perfect symbol for us." "It is," she says as she slips it on her finger. "Thank you, Mulder." "I'm glad you like it." He smiles down at her and lets out the breath he was holding as he looks at the ring on her left hand. "I love you" she says softly as she kisses him and wraps her arms around his neck. "Happy birthday, love" he says into her hair as he holds her tightly. *********************************************** The end.